29 years ago this August, Pakistan's dictator, the general who made jihad part of Pakistani State policy, died in a mysterious air crash. Did the KGB, the then USSR's dreaded espionage agency, assassinate Zia-ul Haq? Was India's RA&W responsible for blowing Zia's military aircraft out of the skies? Was it Zia's many enemies in Pakistan's military? Was it a box of mangoes as Mohammad Hanif speculated in his fascinating novel about Zia's death? Or was the assassin someone else?
Has New Delhi internalised the truth that it does not matter, asks Saeed Naqvi. Such deafening silence from the government, principal opposition, even the pundits!
Incoming US President Donald Trump has assembled a core team that is -- not surprisingly -- overwhelmingly white and male.
Dr Manjul Bhargava speaks to P Rajendran about winning the Fields Medal, math's biggest global honour.
'A three generation US-Pakistan relationship is not likely to be snapped any time soon. All this presents an irritant to an India that wishes to concentrate on economic development,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Thirty years after the massacre at Tiananmen Square, coerced collective amnesia envelops the Chinese nation about that horrific event. Claude Arpi glances back at how the student uprising could have changed the Middle Kingdom forever had the Chinese Communist party not traveled on the route of martial law.
Other countries need not be worried by Trump putting America first, says B S Raghavan. 'That is what the imperative duty is of everyone heading his country's government: To put his own country first, and make it great.' 'That is what Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping, Theresa May, Angela Merkel, Shinzo Abe and all the democratically elected heads of governments, with the interest of their people at heart, are doing.'
As the United States and China joust for supremacy, India might remain on the sidelines with its limited resources.
The fight was for the more than 10 million millennials, the undecided and the independents and Clinton clearly came out on top, feels Aziz Haniffa.
'You can fight to win leadership of a party, yet join party rivals to win a general election in the US. The fact that dissent is not rebellion is not really appreciated in India, where we are used to the 'High Command' culture,' says T V R Shenoy.
'Even in this age of self-willed and authoritarian leaders and spontaneous gestures, a script is still written,' notes Ambassador B S Prakash, imagining the 'talking points' are for the India-US summit on June 26.
From a shy bride to a passionate campaigner, the story of Diana, 'the People's Princess', was more often than not told through photographs.
The Budget has evoked mixed reactions from Silicon Valley investors.
The India-Japan joint naval exercises are a strategic signal for China, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
Narendra Modi's speech at the India Economic Convention was the best such oration since Atal Bihari Vajpayee addressed the nation from the Red Fort in the aftermath of Kargil, feels Shreekant Sambrani.
The founder of the Republican Hindu Coalition first attracted attention in the US as the "Punjabi tycoon" who was a huge supporter of Narendra Modi in the US. 'He will be best for India. There is no better ally for the US than India in the region,' Shalabh Kumar tells Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
'This has been an ongoing process,' says Ambassador B S Prakash, India's former consul general in San Francisco, 'but I believe a Modi visit to the West Coast can be a force-multiplier.'
'She preserved national unity against great odds.'
'Imagine for a moment that the Coast Guard was unable to stop the vessel and it reached Porbandar with its cargo/personnel and targeted the event at which the prime minister was present,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'You can ascribe any ideology to him, and it will be equally right - or equally wrong.' 'Even though the comrades on the Left will never admit it, he seems as much Stalinist as capitalist.'
'Modi is a symbol of Asia Rising; and, for the first time in decades, a non-white has the potential to be the most compelling global leader.'
Aziz Haniffa, who has covered every Indian Prime Minister's visit to the US since Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, gives us a peek into what's happening in Washington, DC on the eve of the Modi-Trump summit.
From an exclusive interview with GQ magazine's Daniel Riley, for GQ India's April 2016 issue, here are 12 things you should know about Cristiano Ronaldo - the footballer, the father and the man
Why has a nation created on strong secular principles slowly chipped away those essential values? Why are so many Indians willing to compromise their freedoms and those of their compatriots for the cause of economic progress and to see a shining India,' asks Aseem Chhabra.
India must be aware that there is no question of the US fighting the Chinese on land. We have to fight our own battles, points out Virendra Kapoor.
It would be a huge achievement if the new administration manages a successful transition to some sense of domestic and international normalcy in these frantic times marked by the pandemic and rise of illiberal regimes across the world, observes Shreekant Sambrani.
With a rich political and personal legacy, George Herbert Walker Bush left no shortage of memorable photos from his time both in and out of office. Bush died at the age of 94. The 41st US president, congressman, Central Intelligence Agency director and oil tycoon was also father to the 43rd president -- George W Bush. The younger Bush in a statement remembered his father as "a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for." Delving into archives here are the US former president's most memorable days.
Here are the big takeaways from the debate.
'NiMo having skipped, the next best bet is a high-profile banker.' 'Ms Usha happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.' 'Ms Usha's crime? That's as thin as it gets.'
20 years ago this day, May 11, 1998, India conducted its second nuclear test at Pokharan in Rajasthan. In a fascinating interview on Rediff.com, K Subrahmanyam revealed how Indian PMs reacted to nuclear ambitions.
Read the full transcript of President Obama's State of the Union address on Wednesday at the US Capitol in Washington.
